In our latest ebook, 5 live production ideas for sports teams and franchises, we discuss how franchises of any size can create direct engagement opportunities with fans using live social video. 

Live shoulder content for live events is a tried and tested way to reach wider audiences online and on social media. It creates an interactive, virtual meeting spot for fans to gather on franchises’ social channels. 

Outside of game day, there aren’t many bigger events than the draft, so let’s explore how to create your own draft show.

Creating a draft show

On-air talent

Let’s start with on-air personnel. You’ll need a host, or two, to guide fans through the draft. This could be from a dedicated studio – but it can be from anywhere.

You could go live from the press box, beside the field, or your own mobile studio – all you need is a chair or two, a desk and a branded backdrop. Your hosts could also be fully remote. 

Now, who else? The typical format of a draft show is to follow each round of picks and give real-time news updates to your fans. But what more can you offer? Deep insight and analysis from inside the franchise. 

You’ll be operating a highly-personalized news show for fans. Book key personnel to appear from the draft team, plus ex-players and spokespeople to give opinion and strategy updates. Your fans want every piece of information they can get their hands on. The more you can give them, the better.

Guest talent could appear with you on-prem, or appear remotely from wherever they are.

Cameras and microphones 

Next up – cameras. You don’t need to hire or purchase high-end cameras to produce high-definition live video. Most of the latest iPhones (13 or later) provide high-quality live streams when paired with the Larix app (free on the iOS App Store) or other contribution app. (Other smartphone models will also work – we’ve tested these handsets ourselves).

Of course, you can use entry-level through to high-end cameras, which will require encoders and other technical considerations. This does limit your flexibility and the ease of setup – as well as your options for location.

Don’t forget you’ll need tripod mounts for each camera or smartphone. 

If you already have a dedicated studio and equipment for live productions – that’s great! You could bring in additional angles using smartphones, or add more locations to your production using smaller set-ups. 

For sound, opt for lapel microphones for on-air talent from manufacturers such as RODE and others. They are easy to set up and not intrusive for talent to manage. 

Production equipment

Regarding physical equipment, all your production crew needs are laptops and internet connectivity. 

Then you’ll need Grabyo Producer, and a HMTL graphics platform such as Singular.Live, or an audience participation platform such as Dizplai or Tagboard. These platforms are integrated with Grabyo Producer, and can be accessed via the Control Room after initial setup.

You may also need a communications platform such as Discord if you work in a remote or hybrid workflow. 

All of these platforms are accessible through a web browser, from anywhere. 

Other considerations

You may need to consider lighting, depending on your shooting location. You may only need simple ring lights for presenters or more robust lighting rigs.

Producing a draft show

For example, let’s look at the setup for a three-person crew producing a draft show using Grabyo Producer. If the crew is remote – they are in communication over Discord, Zoom or another comms platform.  Our crew consists of a technical director (TD), one video switcher and one graphics operator. 

Preparation

We recommend building scenes and layouts ahead of time. In Grabyo Producer you can create scene snapshots that allow you to save a display layout of live feeds, VODs and graphics, then switch to it with one click. 

We also recommend loading up any VOD assets you have into a media player, which allows you to create a playlist of VOD assets to play out during the production.  

During the production

Your technical director is calling the shots and monitoring each feed on Grabyo Producer’s multiviewer. Your video switcher is in Grabyo Producer’s Control Room, switching between feeds, scenes and VOD assets.

Note: Many of our customers combine these roles into one. 

Your graphics operator will be moderating audience comments and displaying them on screen. They will also manage the data and text inputs for any other dynamic graphics you are running, such as tickers or rolling graphics. They are responsible for preparing and pushing these graphics live. 

Any static graphics you have (sponsor logos, branding) can be controlled by the video switcher, or folded into snapshots so they are always on-screen. 

Managing on-air talent

Guests can appear remotely on your show via Grabyo Producer’s Guest platform. Send your guest a URL link to join a virtual room, where they can see the production output and other guests. Your switcher can then bring them on air. 

Guests can join using any internet-enabled device with a camera and microphone. Your TD can interact with guests by using the crew intercom functionality, which on-air talent can use lazy talkback to interact with the crew. You can also replicate this workflow to communicate with on-prem talent.

Delivering a draft show

To maximize interactivity and reach, we recommend broadcasting live to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, plus your franchise website and app (if applicable). You could also create a vertical version of the show and broadcast to TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.

Grabyo is directly integrated with all these social platforms for seamless multi-platform distribution of live content.

The comments section of your broadcast is where fans will engage. Facilitate conversations by encouraging questions and comments or publish polls, then display them on the show. You can give fans more control over what they are watching and receive feedback on your show in real-time. 

You could also ask fans to send messages via text, email or on social if they are watching on your website or app. 

And that’s it! It takes around 15 minutes to spin up a Grabyo Producer instance and around one hour of training to use the platform.

Once you’re up and running, the flexibility of cloud production gives you the opportunity to shape a workflow that enables you and your team to create high-quality output.

To learn more about producing a draft show, or for more live production ideas for sports franchises, head to the buttons below.

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